Although Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley cruised to re-election in June, it did not come without a flurry of his well-noted temper and lack of self-control even against a political novice from the county’s probation department, Tojo Thomas. At two forums in April and May, Thomas repeatedly got under Miley’s skin on issues ranging from his involvement in the demise of ACAP, the hiring of David Muhammad and health club dues paid with Miley’s campaign funds. In a nutshell, the shit-talking between Miley and Thomas was, without a doubt, the campaign season’s best.

Tojo Thomas

1. “Why don’t you just endorse me like a real man?” Thomas taunted Miley on April 23.

2. “You don’t have my respect and I don’t think you deserve my respect,” respond Miley the same night.

3. “I don’t have experience in corruption. I don’t have any experience in paying my dues at the Belleview Club and the Claremont Club from campaign funds. I don’t have any experience getting into scandals. I’m a probation officer. The media ran a record check on me. All I have is two traffic tickets. A perfect, clean record. On the job training? Is that how you learned?….You don’t have to respect me. When I win, I’ll take care of business. Thank you,” Thomas told Miley, April 23, in response to a report Miley paid health club dues with campaign monies.

Nate Miley

4. “You say that I pay dues to the Belleview Club. Yeah, I can pay dues to the Belleview Club. I pay dues to the Claremont. I do that because I need to get away and have an opportunity to be in an environment where I don’t have to deal with constituents who are constantly talking to me whether I’m in church, walking the streets or I’m in the grocery store,” Miley told Thomas, although with the possibly unintended message the supervisor is trying to avoid constituents.

5. “If I wrote an article that I wanted to kill someone, I would never be hired,” Thomas said Miley, May 2. referring to a news article former chief probation officer David Muhammad wrote a decade ago where he admitted trying to kill a man.